While it is possible for a person to act for themselves in court, consulting with a personal injury lawyer can be crucial, as courts can be complicated places where rules and procedures must be followed and adhered to, especially when dealing with a personal injury lawsuit. Moreover, certain expectations are placed on the litigants so that their issues can be heard and determined. It follows from this that while a person can represent themselves in court, they are expected to understand the various challenges and complexities that they should expect from the court so that they can help themselves. The victim, possibly with guidance from a personal injury lawyer, must also understand whether certain resources are available for use by people who choose to represent themselves.
The Legal Landscape in California
In California, the law allows one to act for themselves while pursuing compensation for a personal injury case. The self-representation in California can either be “pro se” or “in pro per.” Due to the fact that personal injury lawsuits in California can be very distressing and full of complex instances, it can be very tiring and confusing to the people who choose to act for themselves in court. Due to the challenges involved, it is possible that the person who chooses to represent himself or herself may not be able to do so adequately, and they may end up receiving a small amount of compensation as compared to the victims who instructed personal injury attorneys.
We are going to look at the advantages and disadvantages of self-representation in the following paragraphs
The advantages and disadvantages of Self-Representation
The decision to act for oneself in court can be informed by several factors, including the trust that one can efficiently deal with the issue even when they are not a lawyer, instances where one has had a bad experience with lawyers that they had instructed, instances where one believes that hiring a lawyer is expensive and in instances that they believe that they can get a better outcome when they act for themselves other than when they are represented.
The following are the advantages of self-representation:
Cost Savings
The greatest advantage that comes with self-representation is that it would, in most instances, result in saving the costs that the personal injury lawyers would have otherwise taken up. It should be noted that some of the lawyers can charge huge amounts of money as legal fees. Moreover, the legal fees can keep getting higher in instances where the personal injury cases drag on and on in court. Because some of the personal injury lawyers would charge huge amounts on an hourly basis, it is almost certain that the final legal fees would be unbelievably high.
Empowerment and Control
It should be noted that in instances where one has chosen to act for themselves, they are more in control of the decisions and the legal strategies that may result in them getting a huge amount of money as compensation. It should be understood that even though having a lawyer is hugely beneficial in terms of the advantages that come with having a lawyer, there are certain instances where the lawyer may come up with strategies that may not be in the best interest of their client.
Increased Access to Justice
With the rise in instances where litigants have realized that they could represent themselves in court, the access to justice has greatly gone up, and this is one of the advantages of self-representation as parties can represent themselves even in instances where they do not have money that they can use to engage the services of a lawyer. The opening up of the court system to even those who are willing to self-represent has, therefore, increased access to justice.
Personal Knowledge and Understanding
The act of self-representation ensures that the litigants can understand the court system as they would in the process of representing themselves, as well as the nuances and practices of the legal system in California. It should be noted that this understanding of the court system shall be an advantage to the litigant even after they have dealt with their matter. The litigant would be able to be more effective after the self-representation when they encounter a different situation that would necessitate their self-representation in court.
Flexible Scheduling and Timelines
In light of the fact that one would be totally in control of their personal injury claim when they are representing themselves, the litigant would be more flexible in dealing with their case as opposed to instances where they have to rely on the lawyer. It is, therefore, of great advantage to be flexible when dealing with a case. This situation is only possible when one is dealing with personal injury lawyers.
Streamlined Decision-Making
In light of the fact that the litigant is in total control of the court case and all the factors around their case in court, they shall be able to make more decisions easily and immediately and without having to worry about consulting a personal injury lawyer that is normally the case when one has engaged the services of a lawyer.
Emphasis on Alternative Dispute Resolution
In light of the fact that the litigants may be more confused about the complex court process, this state of mind makes them consider the fact of exploring out-of-court settlements and other alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. By being ready to embrace these avenues of settling disputes, they shall be able to save time and resources and maintain the relationship with the other party that would have been had they decided to engage a lawyer to act for them.
Disadvantages of self-representation
Lack of Legal Expertise
Acting without a lawyer, in most instances, results in dealing with a court matter without the necessary legal expertise. With training and experience, most lawyers would have the experience and the capacity to deal with simple and complex matters. With the experience and training, litigants would find the court matters to be simple. Dealing with a court matter without the experience and training may, therefore, result in receiving a small amount of compensation or no compensation at all.
Incomplete Understanding of Legal Procedures
The court process in California stipulates that rules and procedures must be adhered to for a court matter to be conclusively dealt with in a short period. Because most litigants who choose to represent themselves may not have an understanding of the legal procedures around attendance of courts and preparation of documents, the litigants may likely miss out on the important court timelines, which would result in a delay in dealing with the matter, dismissal of the matters and in other instances no compensation being awarded.
Limited Access to Legal Resources
Through their training, experience, and networking, most personal injury lawyers would have a conclusive arsenal of resources that is necessary to deal with a case. These resources would influence any legal strategy that shall be taken on a matter. Without the resources and the important network, the litigants who represent themselves would be severely hindered in their pursuit of a just and fair compensation.
Emotional Bias and Subjectivity
By their very nature, personal injury accidents are very emotive. Because of the memories and emotions that surround the same and the intense desire to get pain and suffer damages and medical expenses, objectively representing yourself in a case can be difficult. Courts are meant to be avenues for reason, and they cannot be converted into avenues of emotional outbursts. Moreover, the other side may engage the services of an experienced personal injury lawyer who may decide to exploit you based on emotions. When personal injury lawyers deal with personal injury claims, they are normally objective and emotionally balanced, and this ensures that they stick to the strategy that they adopt. Being emotionally biased and subjective is, therefore, a disadvantage that accompanies self-representation.
Limited Negotiation Skills
Most litigants who represent themselves may need to gain the necessary negotiation skills that would otherwise have ensured that their cases were successful. An insurance company would exploit a person who has limited negotiation skills.
Because of the pitfalls that surround the decision to act in person, a personal injury attorney should be engaged if the victim of the personal injury aims to get compensation. Despite the temptation that is always present to decide to act in person, the ultimate objective of getting compensation should inform the decision to seek a lawyer.
It follows from the above that the decision to act in person must be made with the complete picture of the advantages and disadvantages in mind.